Chronicle Corporation is a hypothetical safety products supply company located in the Midwest with offices in 5 adjoining states. As the Director of Educational Technology, I have been assigned to develop a strategic plan to implement e-learning for the company. I have many factors to consider in order to make a decision and will share the options with many of the shareholders involved in this e-learning venture. In order to provide accurate information in order to make the right selection, I need to accomplish two things in this assignment. The first is to generate an evaluation list for purchasing an LMS for organizational learning purposes.The second assignment is to identify the prominent features of two existing LMS programs based on pedagogical and managerial concerns.
EVALUATION FOR SELECTION AND PURCHASE
In researching what needs to be evaluated when deciding to purchase an LMS, I found many resources. For this assignment, I will post links to two of the resources I found online.
The first resource is a checklist titled Learning Management System (LMS) Requirements Checklist provided by geo Learning (2007). This checklist offers 218 separate functions/features that may be considered in an LMS. What is nice about the design of this checklist are the built-in columns for notes and descriptions along with columns marked as required, optional, and not required. When using this checklist to evaluate an LMS, I can easily see if the one I’m evaluating will meet the needs of Chronicle Corporation. I am able to modify this list as necessary because it is downloadable as an Excel spreadsheet and not in .pdf form.
The second resource is a 58-page book created by the eLearning Guild (2006) and titled 382 Tips of the Selection of an LMS or LCMS. There are 16 separate focus areas within the book providing comprehensive tips surrounding the selection of an LMS. The use of this book and the previously noted checklist are invaluable resources for the task I have in selecting and eventually purchasing an LMS for Chronicle Corporation.
Some of the areas I need to consider for evaluation in order to provide what I think is the best LMS for organizational learning purposes are noted below.
- Hosting and Support
- Security Capabilities
- Platform, Domains & Interface
- Workflow and Approval Process
- User Features
- User Management
- Learning Content Creation & Management
- Reporting Capabilities
- Communication & Collaboration
- Cost
FEATURES
I have selected two Learning Management Systems to review based on the features inherent to each. Moodle is a free to use, but hosting services require a fee. Blackboard ProSites has a cost of $9500 for up to 200 users annually.
| FEATURES | Moodle 1.9 | Blackboard ProSites |
| Communication Tools | ||
| Discussion Forum | Students can enable and disable posts sent to their e-mail, subscribe to RSS feeds and many other features. | Discussion forums are available for students with students, and with their instructor. |
| Internal or external | Group e-mail and links to external | |
| Productivity Tools | ||
| Calendar | Calendars are available for each course and can be created for individual students. | Calendars are available for each course. |
| Search | Search is available for chat, discussion threads and virtual classroom session recordings. | Could not find or view search within the demo. |
| Administration Tools | ||
| Hosted Services | Usage is free but optional hosting services through Moodle Partners is provided for a fee. | Transparent managed hosting on a fully dedicated server. |
| Student Involvement Tools | ||
| Groupwork | Within this LMS students can be assigned to groups and select their own groups. Each group can have their own discussion forum, chat, or whiteboard. | Groupwork is available with file sharing, private discussion, chat groups and e-mail. |
| Course Delivery Tools | ||
| Assessment/Testing | Many different types of tests are available within Moodle with parameters set by the instructor. These will be imprtant for the certification training necessary for many employees to pass for Chronicle Corporation. | Test Manager, Survey Manager, Early warning system and Gradebook are available assessment & testing tools. |
| Content Development Tools | ||
| Customization | The look of the course can be customized to a degree (placement of items, icons, etc.). | Very customizable. Easily handles and imports Word, .pdf, and SCORM. |
| References for the Moodle information came from wcet edutools at http://www.edutools.info/compare.jsp?pj=4&i=616. More infromation about Moodle can be found at http://moodle.org/about/ | ||
| References for the Blackboard ProSite came from http://www.blackboardprosites.com/ | ||
While Moodle is a very budget conscious option, Blackboard ProSites offers ease of content delivery at an affordable price for the size of the company at this time. Blackboard ProSites offers a very polished look for delivery and have more flexible options.
For a look at features of Moodle, view the following demo:
For a look at the features of Blackboard ProSites, go to http://www.blackboardprosites.com/
References
Brandon, B. (Ed.). (2006). 382 tips on the selection of an LMS or LCMS. The eLearning Guild. Retrieved July 14, 2009, from the Publications, Guild eBooks section of http://www.elearningguild.com/
geoLearning. (2007, October 31). LMS Evaluation Checklist. Retrieved July 14, 2009, from Free Tools section of http://www.geolearning.com/main/about/
Sharon's EdM Assignments Blog 